We do not know if we believe everything in this article in de Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, but we've decided to write about it anyway. We can not resist a study in which test subjects, who take a capsule with Cissus quadrangularis every day before breakfast, lose more than 7 kg in less than two months.

Study
The researchers divided 52 somewhat chubby subjects - BMI: 25-30 - into 2 groups. For 8 weeks, one group took a placebo, and the other took a 300 mg capsule of the Cissus quandrangularis extract CQR-300 daily just before breakfast. Before and after the supplementation period, the researchers analyzed the blood of the test subjects, and determined their body composition.

However, the first author, Robert Nash, is affiliated with the English PhytoQuest Limited, [phytoquest.co.uk] a manufacturer of plant extracts for the supplement industry. Although this study is not sponsored at first sight, it would be possible to play business interests somewhere in the background.

Results
Supplementation with the Cissus extract reduced body weight by more than 7 kilos, and according to DEXA scans reduced fat percentage by a small 13 percent.

In the experimental group the waist circumference decreased by 9 centimeters.

Supplementation with Cissus quadrangularis made the subjects healthier. While the researchers did not see significant changes in the placebo group, in the experimental group the systolic and diastolic blood pressure, LDL, triglyceride and glucose levels decreased, and the concentration of HDL and adiponectin increased.

Conclusion
"In this pilot study, the aqueous extract of leaves and stems of Cissus quadrangularis, CQR-300, administered as a single 300 mg dose daily over an 8-week period reduced body fat as demonstrated by [...] DEXA measurements", write the researchers. "This was paralleled by a reduction in body weight as well as the improvement of certain biochemical parameters associated with the metabolic syndrome."